Patent GB-669222-A (GB)
Title: Improvements in container handling machines
IPC: B67C3/00
Filed: 1950-02-14
Abstract: 669,222. Bottle washing, filling and capping machines. ARNOLD, J. C. (Pneumatic- Scale Corporation, Ltd.). Feb. 14, 1950. No. 3766/50. Class 125(ii). [Also in Group XXIV] A machine which comprises a conveyer and a plurality of star wheels and revolving tables for feeding bottles and like containers to pass through washing, filling and capping operations has control means arranged at a number of points to detect an abnormal resistance in the machine caused e.g. by the jamming of a bottle and means responsive to the control means for stopping the machine when such resistance occurs. The entire group of mechanisms are driven from a driving shaft 66 (Fig. 3) through an overload safety unit 70, a clutch and brake unit 20, shaft 68, bevel gears 102, 104 and a shaft 106, the shaft 66 being driven by an electric motor (not shown). The overload safety unit 70 (Figs. 3 and 4) includes an arm 72 fixed to the shaft 66 and provided with a pawl 74 fixed on a pivot pin 76 and normally urged into driving engagement with a notch 78 in a disc 80 which is secured to one end of a flanged member 82<SP>1</SP> loosely mounted on the shaft 68. The spring 82 is secured at one end to a lever 84 fast on the pivot pin 76 and at the other to a latch arm 86 pivotally mounted on an extension of the arm 72, such that when an abnormally excessive load is encountered the pawl 72 will slip out of the notch 78 and the latch arm 86 will be rocked to engage in a notched portion 89, a roller 88 mounted on the lever 84, holding the pawl 74 in an inoperative position until the arrangement has been manually reset. The other end of the flanged member 82<SP>1</SP> forms the driving member 90 of the clutch and brake unit 20 and is arranged to co-operate with a clutch member 92 keyed to the shaft 68 and which is shifted into and out of engagement with the member 90 by a shifter arm 94 on a rocker shaft 96 and a manually operated clutch lever 98 also fast on the rocker shaft 96, a stationary brake 100 is arranged to brake the shaft 68 when the clutch member is disengaged. Additional safety control units are provided at selected points in the machine for stopping its operation in the event of a jam of bottles at one of the selected points. These safety control units comprise couplings having relatively movable driving and driven elements, the driven member being adapted to yield slightly under excessive load, the relative movement being arranged to close a circuit for energizing a solenoid 250 to effect, by breaking a toggle linkage 204 through movement of the levers 254, 258 and the arm 260, an immediate disengagement of the clutch member 92 with the application of the brake 100 and the opening of a switch 280 in the circuit of the driving motor by a cam member 284 fixed to the toggle linkage 264. As shown in Fig. 8, a safety control unit for a bottle transfer disc comprises a driving member 200 keyed to a driving shaft 138 and a hollow hood-shaped driven member 202 which is formed on the lower end of the spindle of the transfer disc. The driving member 200 has extended fins 214 and 216, the fin 214 entering a slot 218 formed in the driven member 202 and arranged in driving engagement with a spring-pressed slidably mounted plug 220. A set screw 224 enables the tension of the spring to be adjusted, and a second setscrew 228 is provided to engage the opposite side of the fin 214. The other fin 216 is arranged to operate a micro-switch 234 which is of the normally closed type and is held in an open position by the fin 216 during normal operation of the machine. The contacts of the micro-switch 234 are connected to separate collector rings which are mounted to rotate with the driven member 202 and to co-operate with stationary brushes connected in a circuit with the solenoid 250. The closing of the microswitch 234 energizes the solenoid 250 to stop the machine. In the preferred embodiment, three such micro-switches are arranged in a parallel circuit to the solenoid 250. A modified form of safety control unit (Fig. 12) comprises a pneumatically operated mechanism adapted to move: a switch and close the circuit: to the solenoid 250. It comprises driving and driven elements 304 and 306 having fins 308 and 310, the fin 308 being arranged to co-operate with a spring-pressed plug unit 312 while the other fin 310 co-operates with a conduit member 316 of the control mechanism and through which air under pressure may be caused to flow, to be discharged through a small orifice 318 but which is under normal working of the machine closed by a flat pin 322 mounted on the fin 310. The conduit 316 is provided with a restricted throat 320 so that upon a minute movement of the driven element 306 relative to the driving element 304 a substantial pressure drop in the portion 324 of the conduit is effected by the opening of the discharge orifice 318. This pressure drop is used through the medium of a Bourdon tube 330 which carries a magnet 328 to operate a magnetic switch 326 of known type to energize the solenoid 250 and stop the machine.